It’s hard to believe that in three weeks I’ll never live in my house again. How weird is that? I have so many incredible memories here. Bootsie became our first baby in this house. I spent 7 hours of labor in this house. We brought Amalia home to this house. She took her first steps here. She ate her first food here. So many special moments occurred between these walls, and while I’m sad to let those go, I’m excited for all of the new memories we will create in our dream home.

Today I’m sharing the photos that we took for our listing and sharing my thoughts on each room one by one.

But first, let me tell you about the selling process. We put this house on the market just before the 4th of July which, in retrospect, was a big mistake. The week it went live we had a ton of showings and an incredibly packed open house. We got one offer within a few days of putting it up, but it was much lower than what we wanted so we countered and they declined.

The next week, 4th of July week, it was crickets. Everyone, including us, was out of town and we didn’t have on inquiry. We completely freaked out. We only had 60 days total to get the house under contract in order to buy our new one, and if we didn’t hit that, we would lose the house. So it was pure panic mode for a minute there.

But then I had Julia Dags, my photographer, reshoot every room and my realtor and I brainstormed more marketing ideas including targeting specific places with Facebook ads, partnering with local Instagram accounts, and more. As soon as we did that we got more showings and one of them ended up putting out an offer the same day that they saw it. It was a good offer, they were already approved for their mortgage, and they could work on our timeline. It was basically our dream scenario.

We had some drama with the appraisal price and a few random inspection details but it all worked out in the end. The wife in the couple found me on Instagram and actually reached out and was so nice! We met them on the day of their inspection and it makes me so happy to know that two kind people will live in and love the home we’ve built here. I’m so happy for them!

Here are photos and details about each room so you can see the details house all in one place.

Kitchen: The kitchen is the heart of any home and that rings true for us too. When we moved in, the counters were black, the backsplash was an ugly brownish color and the cabinets were yellow. You can see before photos in this post. We went through a few iterations before ending up with the current design which is really clean and simple. I had to add this island because I needed more counter space. It is also a butcher block which is great because I don’t ever need to use a cutting board. Because the kitchen is relatively small (you can’t tell from the photos) and not the brightest room in the house, we really wanted it to be all white so it felt bigger and brighter.

Living room: I made a lot of changes to this room because we used it in a different way when we first bought the house. We originally designed it as a more formal space which was great at the time, but then we had Amalia and switched our dining room to a playroom so we needed it to be more livable. We got extremely lucky with the sky blue hand-me-down couches from our designer Prudence which made the space much more comfortable. Ever since we made that switch, we spend a lot more time in here. Sadly we have to leave the couches with the house because our buyers really wanted them and negotiated them into the sale. Everything else in this room will be coming with us.

As you can see in the second photo below, the living room is the first room you see when you walk up the stairs, so it makes a big statement about the house. I love how it looks now. Cozy and inviting but also pretty and happy.

Playroom: When Amalia started sitting up, we turned our dining room into a playroom so she’d have space to crawl around and play. We spend so much time in here and it is one of the best decisions we’ve made in this house. I thought I’d miss having a dining room, but it has been totally fine without one. At first we literally just stuck a playmat into the room, but then we made it more fun and colorful this year and it’s a happy space.

Sunroom: When we originally moved into the house, we were going to make this little addition off of the kitchen into a dining room. But we realized that we wanted a comfy TV room near the kitchen that would become the most used room in the house. It went through many iterations of design but I love this space the way it is now so much. I’m sad to leave behind the wallpaper and curtains! Our buyers bought this couch too which Anel is bummed about because he claims it is his favorite couch of all time.

You can read about how we decorated the room and installed new floors here.

Amalia’s room: Even though she’s not a baby anymore, the original design of the room still works. We switched the layout around because her crib was on a wall with a shower on the other side so it would wake her up and that wasn’t good for anybody. We’re going to bring everything from this room (except the light fixture) to the new house and will design something new for her whenever she moves into a big girl bed. I have extra rolls of the Serena & Lily wallpaper on that right wall which is now discontinued so I might put that up for her again. I think it’s so sweet and pretty!

Master bedroom: This has been a tough room because it’s pretty small and pretty dark. But we made it work with a grasscloth ceiling and not much decor. I can’t wait to have a bigger master in the new house!

Master bath: If we had planned to stay in this home for a long time, we would have renovated this bathroom and expanded it into a closet to the right to have two sinks and more space. Because we knew we were going to move, we left it as is. I used this bathroom and Anel used one across the hall. Let me tell you, having your own bathroom in a marriage is the ultimate luxury! That is one thing I’ll definitely miss in the new house.

Anel’s bathroom: Anel and Amalia share this bathroom which I don’t think I’ve ever shown here or on social. There’s not much to write home about on this one and it was going to be our next project before we decided to move.

Home office: I love my office/closet, but if we had had another baby in this house, I would have had to move my office to the basement and not had any closet space. That was actually a pretty major factor in our decision to move. I work from home and spend most of my workday in my office so sitting in a dark basement was not going to be ideal. Definitely liveable, but not ideal.

Basement: This open space in the basement is divided into two sections. When we first moved in, we put our TV room down here for a cozy dark space. But then it turned into summer and we moved the TV room to the sunroom for more daylight. This is how we staged it for the move but until then it was pretty much a storage space for the furniture we weren’t using upstairs. One of my biggest regrets in this home was not utilizing a giant portion of our square footage.

Guest room: The guest room and bath are also on the lower level. We just finished the design of these rooms and I hate leaving them because they are perfect and happy and wonderful.

Guest bath: I love this bathroom so much and want to use this wallpaper again somewhere in the new house. I don’t know where yet but maybe the dining room?

Laundry room: The ginger jar wallpaper gets people excited every time. I do love it, but I think we’ll go for a cleaner and simpler look in the new laundry room. Although that is pretty much my last priority on a very long to-do list.Photos by Julia Dags.

Comments

Where is the desk chair in your office from? I have one I love the design of, the clear ghost chairs, but OMG it’s not comfortable. I work from home one day a week so I need something more comfortable but still cute!